Amnesty International criticises new £25m-a-year shirt sponsorship deal at Newcastle United

Campaigners have hit out after Newcastle United signed a £25m-a-year shirt sponsorship deal with a leading Saudi Arabian events company. 

Amnesty International claims the contract with Sela is part of an ongoing sports-based PR effort by the desert kingdom to deflect from its human rights abuses. 

It comes as Saudi Arabia takes control of top-level golf with a multi-billion dollar investment which sees its breakaway LIV league merge with the PGA and DP World Tours. 

The multi-year Newcastle deal replaces the club’s £6.5m a year shirt sponsorship with the Chinese online gambling company Fun88 signed in 2017. 

Since then it has controversially been taken over by Saudi Arabia’s wealthy Public Investment Fund (PIF) with an 80% stake in the club. Sela – which is also owned by PIF -  is the leading sporting and entertainment events organiser in Saudi Arabia. 

Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK’s Economic Affairs Director, said: “Newcastle’s recent success on the football field has been part and parcel of an enormous sports-based PR effort from the Saudi authorities, yet away from the glamour of the Premier League there’s been mounting repression in Saudi Arabia. 

“We’ve seen a disturbing human rights crackdown under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with government critics and human rights activists arrested, a spate of unfair trials, and with the death penalty widely used, including as a tool of political repression. 

“Last year alone, the Saudi authorities executed 196 people, the highest number for at least 30 years, and the Leeds University PhD student Salma al-Shehab was given a long jail sentence for tweeting her support for Saudi women’s rights activists. 

“Next season, when players are pulling on Sela-branded Newcastle football shirts, they should also be ready to field questions about sportswashing and the human rights abuses the Saudi authorities are trying to airbrush out of the picture.” 

The deal is expected to be waved through by the Premier League as long as it is considered to be of fair market value. 

Newcastle United chief executive officer Darren Eales said: “We team up at an exciting time in the history of both organisations given both share an ambitious vision to expand their brands globally. 

“Fan engagement is central to what we do at Newcastle United and, in Sela, we are partnering an organisation with shared interests that has delivered incredible events and experiences to millions of people over many years.”